The Evolution of Human Behavior

The Evolution of Human Behavior

The Evolution of Human Behavior

Excerpt

The general topic of human evolution is exceedingly broad and hence can be approached from many diverse angles. Most of the books that have appeared in this field up to the present have dealt almost exclusively with the evolution of man's bodily structure. Quite aside from this limitation, many of them are too detailed and technical to be of much value to the general reader.

In the present volume, behavior rather than bodily structure has been stressed. The writer believes that the evolution of human intelligence, with its almost limitless capacity for cultural development, should be regarded as the central theme of the general problem. The facts of structural evolution must find their larger meaning in terms of the cultural evolution which they have made possible. The psychological approach, growing out of this conception, offers a new orientation in interpreting the biological and sociological factors involved. The present treatment is as non-technical as could well be without sacrificing something of scientific accuracy.

The author is indebted to the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, and to the following publishers for permission to make use of illustrative materials from published works: D. Appleton and Co.; John Bale, Sons and Danielsson, Ltd.; Harcourt, Brace and Co.; Paul B. Hoeber, Inc.; The Macmillan Co.; Oxford University Press, London; Princeton University Press; G. P. Putnam's Sons; Science Press; Charles Scribner's Sons; Williams and Wilkins Co.; Yale University Press.